More than one in three small business owners (35%) plan to expand their business in the next three months, more than ten times the proportion that expect to downsize, according to the latest research from Alliance & Leicester, the new force in business banking.
At a time when fluctuating levels of high street spending and unemployment from larger companies in the manufacturing sector have fuelled fears of an impending recession, the latest findings suggest that few small businesses are bracing themselves for a difficult autumn.
In the latest series of reports intended to assess the confidence and sentiment of new and established small businesses, the Alliance & Leicester Business Barometer asked a GB representative sample of 500 small businesses what they felt the outlook was for their business in the next three months.
Key findings: